My 26th Birthday

So MUCH to update on. I suppose I'll start with my birthday. I decided in January to stay in Austin this year for my Spring Break due to the need to save up for Israel this summer (which as of now the projected cost of the trip is around $4000!!! Yikes!) Anyway, since I went to Vegas for the first time in February (pictures forthcoming), I decided to have a Vegas-themed birthday party on Saturday. It was a fun time. People dressed up, some in actual casino attire, some stuck to the Casino Royale theme.

There was dancing at the party (notice a stripper pole in the background) as well as a backyard fire pit for S'mores.

For my actual birthday, I treated myself to a shopping spree with some birthday money I received. I went in to work for a little bit, then drove up to Cedar Park for my small group. There, I got to celebrate my birthday again.
My cake was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen's complete with a cookie crumb crust and chocolate sauce. My two favorite birthday cakes growing up was this cake as well as Sara Lee's pound cake with Cool Whip, neither of which I've had in a long time. Needless to say, this is the best birthday cake I've had in years.

So now I'm 26 years old. For some reason, I really did not want to turn 26. My mother got married when she was 25, and my grandmothers each had 3-4 kids by the time they hit 26, so I think being 26 and still unmarried makes me feel like I've missed some family legacy of some sort. Of course being a woman getting my PhD, as well as moving across the country to Austin by myself without knowing a soul could also qualify me as being in uncharted family territory.

I love new beginnings. I always say that New Years is my favorite holiday because I get to look forward to new beginnings, new plans, and a new chapter. But my birthday also marks a new beginning. And as I look forward to my 26th year and what I would like to see happen this year, I realize that I'm going to be coming up on some major milestones in life. Though I'm not going share all of them, I will share one.

Career wise, I'm going to propose my dissertation within the next 12 months (AND I'll be back on the job market in the following 12 months!). That is crazy to me, as the dissertation proposal marks the beginning of the end of my graduate school career. In addition, if I were to go into academia, my dissertation can also set the tone for my career. Granted I know that not everyone bases their career on their dissertation, but a lot of people do. My advisor, for instance, became famous for and has built his career around the theories he came up with in his dissertation. All in all, this is the year I'm going to making major decisions regarding my career.

My community group at church is challenging me to start praying boldly and with power, expecting miracles to happen and requests to actually be answered. I find that as I reflect on my life this past year and as I look forward to the future, my reflections fall under 3 major categories. Living situation, love life, and career. I'm going to start praying for these three areas boldly, seeking direction and answers. Needless to say, I think this will be a big year and I'm excited about what's to come!